Exclusive: McKenzie propped up Netball Australia with ‘special’ grant
“The Saturday Paper has confirmed that McKenzie authorised the one-off payment to be made through the Health Department at a time when netball’s peak national body was struggling financially.”
The minister outraged Sport Australia’s board, bypassing the agency to direct $2.5 million to Netball Australia with few strings attached.
News
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New analysis of ATO data has found that many of Australia’s top fossil fuel companies paid little to no income tax in the past five years.
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Funding cuts to community legal sector
A government funding debacle has hurt the community legal sector across the country, forcing centres to close down and leaving vulnerable people in the lurch.
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States defy Commonwealth on emissions
“Every state and territory in Australia now has a net zero [emissions] target by 2050 … If the states all meet their stated goals, then Australia meets it, and what Scott Morrison thinks about that is precisely irrelevant.”
With Scott Morrison refusing to budge on reducing emissions, state governments and the private sector are leading the way on going carbon neutral.
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“We really don’t know where it is going at the moment. Will it plateau out? Will it continue to expand? It will probably be stable enough for a vaccine to be effective over the next few years.”
As the impact of the deadly coronavirus grows exponentially, health authorities are scrambling to contain the number of infections, while University of Queensland researchers are working day and night on a potential vaccine.
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Trump’s peace plan divides Middle East
Palestine rejects Donald Trump’s ‘deal of the century’. Standoff between Indonesia and China over territorial waters. UN rapporteurs call for inquiry into Saudi hacking. New claims from John Bolton undermine Trump’s impeachment defence.
Opinion
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Eva Cox
Bettina Arndt and the Australia Day honours
“One of the questions I return to again and again in my work is how we value unpaid gifts of time and skills that meet social, communal and national needs. The Arndt affair’s blokey stab at gender equity offers an opportunity to question the criteria used to decide the value assigned to honours for which women are nominated.”
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Paul Bongiorno
Scott Morrison’s rebranding mission
“Scott Morrison hates the pejorative nickname that has taken hold on social media. “Scotty from Marketing” was conferred on him by the satirical magazine The Betoota Advocate. The moniker has gained currency because it captures the growing gap between the prime minister’s performance and his salesmanship of it.”
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By now it is clear the face mask is the object that most defines this new decade. From an unfashionable item confined to special conditions in specific geographies, it is fast becoming ubiquitous. It is the facial accessory du jour, filtering the effects of fires, plagues, pestilence, climate and uncertainty. The closer civilisation hurtles towards dystopia, the more citizens will put their faith in this ungainly facial furniture.
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
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Scott Morrison has been criticised for his failures of leadership. For being devoid of the nous required to steer the country through crisis. But there are one’s personal shortcomings, and the choices one makes. Morrison made a choice not to plan for the bushfires, nor for his three years in power.
Culture
After a six-year hiatus, Ezra Koenig’s band Vampire Weekend won a 2020 Grammy for their latest album, Father of the Bride. He reflects on the changing landscape of the music industry and how he handles his new-found fame. “We have a deep connection with a certain group of people, and we’ve grown it a little bit, but at a very sustainable rate.”
Boasting a superlative performance by Nikki Shiels, Home, I’m Darling combines high farce and drama to interrogate gender roles.
True History of the Kelly Gang
Despite its limitations, Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang is the first film to capture the verve and intensity of this iconic story.
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the night before school starts,
our swimmer-tans fading,
we cheat, with gozleme,
from the woolworths fridge:
fry it golden, and crispy
on the heavy skillet
with slices of lemon,
to acid through guilt
Life
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A new form of immunotherapy that harvests T cells from a patient’s blood, genetically modifies them and delivers them back into the bloodstream is bringing new hope to leukaemia sufferers.
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While other former Australian tennis champions court controversy, Rod Laver, the only player to achieve two grand slams, continues to be lauded as Australia’s greatest living sportsman.
Books
Puzzles
1. Name the author of True History of the Kelly Gang?
2. Who is Australia’s highest-ranked women’s singles tennis player after Ash Barty?
3. Which amendment to the United States constitution protects freedom of the press?
4. Palpebral relates to what part of the human face?
5. Name the French photographer, painter and poet who was the subject of Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting Weeping Woman.
6. What is a matryoshka?
7. True or false: an octopus has two hearts?
8. In film, what does CGI stand for?
9. Having stepped down from royal duties, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to divide their time between Britain and which other country?
10. What word means both a pole or rod and employed personnel?
Quotes
GENEROSITY
“If you’re very wealthy you can afford to have as many kids as you want.”
The former prime minister looks at Australia’s shrinking middle class and blames women.
TELEVISION
“I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of colour.”
The Friends star tells The Guardian how he was a champion for greater diversity on the show. He wasn’t clear if he campaigned as hard as he did to be paid $US1 million an episode.
HONOURS
“Shame on … Jill Hennessy, the Victorian Attorney General for responding to muckraking from ideologues rather than seeking proper evidence.”
The commentator, who once interviewed a convicted paedophile about his persecution by feminists, takes umbrage on Twitter with calls to strip her of her Australia Day honour.
HARD SELL
“Morrison is not, and has never been, a marketer. He is an economist by training.”
The former marketing professor outlines his criticism of the prime minister’s new nickname, “Scotty from Marketing”, saying it isn’t fair to people in marketing.
RESPECT
“There’s only one thing longer than the list of Margaret Court’s tennis achievements: it’s her list of offensive and homophobic statements.”
The seven-time grand slam winner hits out at the decision to honour the controversial champion at this year’s Australian Open.
HARMONY
“Get rid of your chip off your shoulder.”
The One Nation leader, never one to hold a grudge, criticises Invasion Day protesters.
